John Duthie Tells You what to Expect from PartypokerLIVE

John Duthie, creator of the European Poker Tour, is taking on a new project as president of the partypokerLIVE tour. Given that the EPT has ended and PokerStars is scaling down some of their other live operations, there’s a big opening for live European events.

Duthie recently discussed what to expect from this new venture, including some of the interesting stops.

“Sochi I think is going to be very interesting,” he said. “Just from looking at it and hearing about it I think it’s going to be a very good event. Generally speaking, I think that in Russia they know how to enjoy themselves. As do poker players – they always bring a bottle to a party! Put those two together and it could get messy, but there’s no doubt it will be great fun.”

Duthie added, “From a venue point of view it’s going to be very exciting, as are the events at The Playground Poker Club in Montreal, King’s Casino in Rozvadov and Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham, which are specifically designed around the poker player.”

Considering that Duthie is a player himself who’s earned almost $2.8 million, he’ll take part in the festivities too. And seeing as how he has both sides of the perspective – including playing and directing tournaments – Duthie believes that this will help him fix what other tourney organizations have fallen short with.

“Being a player and knowing the players I’ve sensed a level of dissatisfaction recently,” he explained. “meaning that all of us can try to make the playing experience more enjoyable. By listening, more than anything else.”

As for how partypokerLIVE will differ from other organizations, Duthie thinks that venues will make the difference.

“This is where it really starts to get interesting; when you have three venues like Playground, Kings and DTD which are totally dedicated to poker and all run by people who love the game,” he said.

“I think loving poker players is really fundamental. Some casinos don’t really like poker players, they don’t see them as being that much value to them. Whereas poker rooms and venues make a completely different atmosphere. That’s going to really show in the next year or two because it’s going to be all about the game; all about the fun. That’s a massive edge we have there.”

If you’d like to hear more from Duthie, check out everything he had to say here.